Video content stocks rise on Netflix subscriber growth

Netflix CI

South Korean video content stocks rallied on early Friday after Netflix Inc. reported that its global subscribers grew by 5.07 million in the third quarter of 2024.

Shares of contents media group NEW were trading at 2,810 won ($2.05) as of 9:20 a.m. on Friday, up 310 won, or 12.40 percent, from the previous session. Studio Dragon Corp.’s stock also rose 2.99 percent, with shares of Dexter Studios up 2.44 percent and Contentree Joongang up 1.25 percent. Samhwa Networks stock also gained ground, while Showbox Co. surged 6.60 percent before trimming its gains to a 0.61 percent increase.

Netflix, the undisputed industry leader, released its third-quarter 2024 earnings report on Thursday local time, which shows the company adding 5.07 million subscribers globally during the quarter to total 282.72 million. This figure slightly exceeded the market’s average expectation of 282.15 million.

Netflix‘s third-quarter revenue was $9.83 billion, with its earnings per share (EPS) standing at $5.40. The revenue and EPS both beat Wall Street’s average estimates of $9.77 billion in revenue and $5.12 in EPS, which was compiled by financial information provider LSEG.

Netflix’s stock dropped by 2.04 percent during regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange but jumped more than 5 percent in after-hours trading following its earnings announcement.

In other market news, shares of Hanmi Semiconductor Co., a supplier of equipment to Korean tech giant SK hynix Inc., lost ground early Friday despite its strong performance exceeding market expectations in the third quarter of 2024.

Hanmi Semiconductor shares were trading 6.02 percent lower at 109,300 won as of 9:20 a.m. from the previous day.

The company announced the previous day that its third-quarter revenue was 208.5 billion won, with an operating profit of 99.3 billion won, marking increases of 568.4 percent and 3,321 percent year-on-year respectively.

This decline is attributed to a projected temporary revenue drop in the fourth quarter of 2024 due to design changes in a major client’s HBM3E from 8-layer to 12-layer, affecting the release schedule.

“The delivery of bonding equipment has been delayed to the first half of next year, resulting in expected revenue decreases,” Kwak Min-jung, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities Co., said in a report.

Meanwhile, Korean game company Krafton Inc. saw its stock price rise nearly 3 percent in early trading on Friday, following expectations from the securities industry that it will continue to show solid performance in the third quarter of 2024 and beyond.

Krafton shares were trading at 344,500 won as of 9:15 a.m., up 10,000 won, or 2.99 percent, from the previous day. The stock, which opened 1.20 percent higher, continued its upward trend and surged 3.59 percent to 346,500 won at one point.

SK Securities Co. forecast earlier in the day that Krafton‘s third-quarter revenue and operating profit would exceed market expectations, increasing by 49.6 percent and 46.8 percent year-on-year to 673.7 billion won and 277.8 billion won respectively.

The securities firm also projected that Krafton’s new titles, such as Dark and Darker Mobile and Enjoy, which are expected to be released at the end of 2024 or early 2025, would contribute approximately 250 billion won to the company’s revenue next year.